1. Personality, 9e Jerry M. Burger
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2. The Trait Approach: Theory, Application, and Assessment
Chapter 7
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3. Chapter Outline Trait approach Important trait theorists
Factor analysis and the search for the structure of personality
Situation versus trait controversy
Application: The big five in the workplace
Assessment: Self-report inventories
Strengths and criticisms of the trait approach
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4. Trait Approach
Identifies personality characteristics that can be represented along a continuum
Trait: Categorizes people according to degree to which they manifest a particular characteristic
Assumptions - Personality characteristics are relatively stable over time and across situations
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5. Figure 7.1 - Trait Continuum
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6. Gordon Allport Acknowledged the limitations of the trait concept
Behavior is influenced by a variety of environmental factors
Traits have physical components in the nervous system
Promoted the concept of self
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7. Gordon Allport: Research Strategies
Nomothetic approach
People can be described along a single dimension according to their level of, assertiveness or anxiety
Common traits - Applies to everyone
Idiographic approach
Identifies the combination of traits that best accounts for the personality of a individual
Central traits - Describe an individual’s personality
Cardinal trait - Single dominating trait in personality
Advantage - Person determines what traits to examine
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8. Henry Murray Personology Focused on psychogenic needs
Combination of psychoanalytic and trait concepts
Needs - Basic elements of personality
Focused on psychogenic needs
Readiness to respond in a certain way under certain given conditions
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9. Henry Murray
People can be described in terms of a personal hierarchy of needs
Press - Situation that influences the activation of a need
Principal contributions to personality
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Stimulated extensive research on psychogenic needs
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10. Factor Analysis and the Search for the Structure of Personality
Factor analysis: Technique employed by Raymond Cattell to determine the structure of human personality
Source traits - Basic traits that make up the human personality
Limitation - Procedure is confined by the type of data chosen for analysis
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11. Donald Fiske’s Personality Factors
Social adaptability
Emotional control
Conformity
Inquiring intellect
Confident self-expression
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12. Table 7.1 - The Big Five Personality Factors
Source: Copyright © 1986 by the American Psychological Association. Reproduced with permission. McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1986). Clinical assessment can benefit from recent advances in personality psychology. American Psychologist, 41, doi: / X No further reproduction or distribution is permitted without written permission from the American Psychological Association.
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13. Neuroticism
Places people according to their emotional stability and personal adjustment
People with high scores are more vulnerable to anxiety and depression
Individuals with low scores tend to be calm and well adjusted
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14. Extraversion
Places extreme extraverts at one end and extreme introverts at the other
Extraverts are very sociable people
Introverts are reserved and independent people
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15. Openness
Involves active imagination, divergent thinking, and intellectual curiosity
People on the high end are unconventional and independent thinkers
Individuals on the low end prefer the familiar rather than the imaginative
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16. Agreeableness
People with high scores are helpful, trusting, and sympathetic
Individuals with low scores tend to be antagonistic and skeptical
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17. Conscientiousness
People on the high end are organized, plan oriented, and determined
Individuals on the low end are careless, easily distracted from tasks, and undependable
Referred as will to achieve or work
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18. Ongoing Questions Related to the Big Five Model
Debate about what the five factors mean
Disagreement about the structure of the five factor model
Researchers have looked into the stability of the five factors over time
When to use scores from Big Five measures versus scores from specific trait scales
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19. Criticism of Trait Approach
Trait measures do not predict behavior well because both the person and the situation are related to behavior
Person-by-situation approach: Individual traits as well as situations determine behavior
There is little evidence for cross-situational consistency
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20. Defense for Trait Approach
Measuring behavior
Strong links between personality traits and behavior is not established because researchers don’t measure behavior correctly
Identifying relevant traits
Single trait can predict a person’s behavior if that trait is important, or central, for the person
Inclusion of secondary trait, dilutes the correlation between the trait score and the behavior
Importance of 10% of the variance
Considering the complexity of factors that influence behavior, ability to explain 10% of variance should be considered good enough
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21. Situation Versus Trait Controversy
Identifying relevant traits
Single trait can predict a person’s behavior if that trait is important, or central, for the person
Inclusion of secondary trait, dilutes the correlation between the trait score and the behavior
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22. Application: The Big Five in the Workplace
Employers use scores from personality tests to make hiring and promotion decisions
Critics complain that employers misinterpret test scores when making these decisions
Research provides stronger evidence for the relationship between personality and job performance
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23. Application: The Big Five in the Workplace
Research indicates that conscientiousness may be the best predictor of job performance
Highly conscientious people are organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement oriented
People high in agreeableness are trusting, cooperative, and helpful
Work well in team jobs
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24. Application: The Big Five in the Workplace
Extraverts have an edge in the business world over introverts
Test scores of applicants on the Big Five personality dimensions are useful when making a hiring decision
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25. Assessment: Self-Report Inventories
Self-report inventories - Asks people to respond to a series of questions about themselves
Widely used form of personality assessment
Have greater face validity
Used by researchers, personnel managers, and clinical psychologists
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26. Assessment: Self-Report Inventories
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Prototypic self-report inventory used by clinical psychologists
Revised version, MMPI-2, was published in 1989
Widely used clinical assessment tool
Psychologists debate the validity of scales0
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27. Figure 7.2 - Sample MMPI Profile
Source: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Profile Form. Copyright 1943, 1948, (renewed 1970), 1976, 1982 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of the University of Minnesota Press.
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28. Assessment: Self-Report Inventories
Problems with self-report inventories
Faking
Test takers intentionally give misleading information on self-report inventories
Fake good - Presenting themselves as better than they really are
Fake bad - Making themselves look worse than they really are
Test makers build safeguards into tests to reduce faking
MMPI contains scales designed to detect faking
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29. Assessment: Self-Report Inventories
Carelessness and sabotage
Participants can get bored with long tests and select responses randomly
Test takers sometimes report incorrect information to sabotage a research project
Instruction explanation, surveillance and stressing the importance of the test can reduce the problem
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30. Assessment: Self-Report Inventories
Response tendencies
Social desirability: Extent to which people present themselves in a favorable light
Measuring social desirability enables a tester to adjust the interpretation of other scores accordingly
Acquiescence response can be a problem on some scales
People’s tendency to agree with test items can distort the meaning of scores
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31. Strengths and Criticisms of the Trait Approach
Usage of objective measures to examine the constructs
Reduced level of the bias and subjectivity
Numerous practical applications
Educational psychologists and employers use trait measures in their work
Generated a large amount of research
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32. Strengths and Criticisms of the Trait Approach
No explanation on how traits develop or how to help people who suffer from extreme scores
No schools of psychotherapy have originated from the trait approach
Lack of an agreed-upon framework
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